Official Statistics

Crime against businesses: findings from the 2023 Commercial Victimisation Survey

Published 9 May 2024

Applies to England and Wales

Frequency of release: Annual

Forthcoming release: Home Office statistics release calendar

Home Office responsible statistician: John Flatley

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Public enquiries: crimeandpolicestats@homeoffice.gov.uk

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This bulletin presents findings from the 2023 Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) which examines the extent of crime against businesses in England and Wales. The survey covers crime experienced by businesses, the impacts of crime, experience and perceptions of the police, crime prevention measures, and experiences of anti-social behaviour.

The CVS is a premises-based survey where a sample of business premises are asked questions relating to their experiences of crime during the previous 12 months. Interviews for the 2023 CVS were conducted between August 2023 and November 2023.

The CVS was first run as a standalone survey in 1994 and 2002 and has since run annually from 2012 to the 2023 CVS, with a break in 2019 and 2020 due to a re-design of the survey and effects of COVID-19. Following consultation with users, the CVS was expanded to include all commercial business sectors in 2022. Prior to this a different selection of 3 or 4 business sectors were covered each year. The 2023 CVS is therefore the second year to cover all commercial business sectors.

1. Main points

• an estimated 26% (409,000) of all business premises, in England and Wales, were a victim of any CVS crime during the previous 12 months, showing no change compared with estimates from the 2022 CVS

• the most prevalent offence type experienced by businesses was theft (14%), followed by burglary (including attempts) (8%), vandalism (8%), and assaults or threats against employees or customers (7%)

• premises in the wholesale and retail sector had a higher prevalence of victimisation compared with other commercial sectors, with 41% experiencing any CVS crime during the previous 12 months

• an estimated 26% of premises in the wholesale and retail sector experienced customer theft during the previous 12 months, this was similar to that found in the 2022 CVS; however, overall customer theft has shown a longer-term upward trend, increasing from 20% in 2014 to 26% in 2023

• there was considerable variation in crime prevalence across different types of premises in the wholesale and retail sector. Among retail premises, supermarkets experienced notably higher levels of theft by a customer (76%) and assaults or threats (43%) compared with premises in other retail subsectors

• the latest police recorded crime data, for the year ending December 2023, has shown rises in both shoplifting and robbery of business property, taking the trend above pre-pandemic levels

• for all business premises, the offence types which premises said had the largest reported negative impact were customer theft (21%) and assaults or threats (16%)

• of the 7% of premises that experienced assaults or threats during the previous 12 months, approximately one-quarter (24%) experienced this offence type at least once a month. Of premises that experienced violence, 73% experienced verbal abuse whilst 21% experienced physical attack without injury and 8% with injury

• for premises that experienced crime, 55% had reported at least one crime they experienced to the police during the previous 12 months.

• for premises that reported a crime to the police, 35% were satisfied with the police response and 41% were dissatisfied; the most common reason for being dissatisfied was that the police never showed up / didn’t do anything (63%)

2. Prevalence of crime

The 2023 CVS estimated that 26% (409,000) of all business premises experienced any CVS crime during the previous 12 months. There was a similar level of crime experienced across all offence types compared with last year’s survey.

All CVS crime

The CVS measures a specific set of crimes against businesses. These include burglary, vandalism, vehicle-related theft, robbery, assaults or threats, theft, and fraud. Computer misuse offences are measured separately, and not included in the measure of all CVS crime.

As this is only the second year that the survey has included all business sectors, it is not possible to produce longer term trends across the surveys entire coverage. However, the wholesale and retail sector has been included in the CVS since 2012. The long-term trends for this sector can be found in section 4.

Figure 1: Proportion of business premises which experienced at least one incident of crime in the previous 12 months, by offence type

England and Wales, 2023 Commercial Victimisation Survey

Source: Home Office, 2023 CVS data tables

Notes:

1. The CVS is likely to underestimate the prevalence of fraud. Information on this type of crime may not be held at the premises level.

Theft was the most prevalent offence type, experienced by 14% of premises. This was mostly driven by customer theft, experienced by 10% of premises. Other types of theft were less common: theft by someone unknown (4%), an employee (1%), or others (1%). Figures sum to more than 14% as some premises experienced more than one type of theft.

Computer misuse offences are not included within all CVS crime due to the different nature of the offences, which in many cases are not targeted at specific business premises. Nine per cent of premises with a computer experienced at least one computer misuse offence. The most prevalent type was staff receiving fraudulent emails (7%), followed by hacking (2%) and computer viruses (2%). Again it is possible to experience more than one type of offence. These prevalence figures are lower than estimates from the 2024 Cyber Security Breaches Survey (CSBS) which showed that 22% of business in the UK were victims of Computer misuse. It is likely that these higher estimates are more reliable as the CSBS is designed to represent enterprises (that is, whole organisations) rather than single premises, and such an approach is likely to better capture this type of crime in business with multiple premises, where such information will in many cases be held centrally.

2.1 Factors associated with victimisation

There are many factors which may affect the likelihood of a business experiencing crime, such as its nature, or location. The relationship between these characteristics can be complex, often with such characteristics being related to one-another. For example, the relationship between business sector and victimisation may be influenced by whether premises are open to the public.

Business sector

Small sample sizes for individual business sectors mean that it has not been possible to carry out analysis for most individual sectors, the uncertainty around estimates being too large to draw reliable conclusions.

As the 2023 CVS is comparable with last year’s survey, both covering all business sectors, to increase the sample size and create more reliable estimates and comparisons between sectors the datasets were combined to create a single dataset spanning 2 survey years.

Combined data from the 2022 and 2023 CVS showed the wholesale and retail sector experienced a higher crime prevalence rate compared with almost all other commercial sectors, with approximately 2 in 5 premises experiencing any CVS crime during the previous 12 months. There was no statistically significant difference compared with the Primary and utilities sector.

Whilst most of this bulletin covers crime experienced by all business premises (based on data from the 2023 CVS), section 4: wholesale and retail sector provides more detail focussing only on that sector (based on combined data from the 2022 and 2023 CVS).

Figure 2: All CVS crime prevalence, by business sector

Source: Home Office, 2023 CVS data tables

Notes:

1. The Primary and utilities sector grouping contains the following sectors: agriculture; forestry and fishing; mining and quarrying; electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply; water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities. Other sector groupings used can be found in Appendix C: Methodology.

2. The error bars around the estimate for each sector show the 95% confidence interval. For more information on this, see Appendix C: Methodology.

Business size (number of employees)

Large premises (50 or more employees) and medium-sized premises (10 to 49 employees) experienced higher all CVS crime prevalence rates (39% and 42% respectively) than small premises (1 to 9 employees) (24%). The number of employees is those based at the premises surveyed, so a business may have more employees based in other locations.

The 2 offence types with the greatest difference in prevalence rates between small businesses and medium or large businesses were theft and assaults or threats (Figure 3). This is possibly due to larger businesses having a greater exposure to risk of these offence types, such as having more stock or equipment on the premises which thieves could target.

Figure 3: Crime prevalence, by business size and offence type

Source: Home Office, 2023 CVS data tables

Public access to premises

As might be expected, a larger proportion of premises that were accessible to the public experienced any CVS crime during the previous 12 months (29%), compared with those not (20%). The largest difference was seen for customer theft, which was experienced by 15% of premises that were accessible to the public, compared with just 3% for those that were not accessible to the public.

3. Frequency of crime

The Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) asks those respondents that experienced crime during the previous 12 months to estimate roughly how often, from only once, to several times a day.

Since 2021, the CVS has no longer provided a measure of total crime incidents. This is because estimates provided in previous years of the CVS of the total number of crimes premises experienced over the 12-month reference period, were judged to have limited accuracy given the challenges for respondents in recalling exactly how many incidents the business had experienced.

The 2023 CVS estimated that, of the premises that experienced any crime, 45% experienced a single incident of crime during the previous 12 months. Victims of customer theft were the most likely to experience more than one incident (75%). Premises that experienced customer theft also experienced the highest rates of repeat victimisation, with 11% of victims describing having experienced this offence several times a day.

Though less than customer theft, premises that experienced violent crime (robbery and assaults or threats) also experienced relatively high rates of repeat victimisation. Thirty-seven per cent of victims of robbery, and 24% of victims of assaults or threats, described experiencing the offence at least once a month. Both offence types were also most often experienced as repeat incidents rather than an isolated occurrence.

The offence types mostly commonly experienced only once by victims, in the 12-month period, were vehicle-related theft (81%), burglary (64%), and fraud (59%).

Like the prevalence rate, the frequency at which all individual offence types were experienced remained similar to last year’s survey.

Figure 4: How often victimised premises experienced crime, by offence type

Source: Home Office, 2023 CVS data tables

Notes:

1. The CVS is likely to underestimate the prevalence of fraud. Information on this type of crime may not be held at the premises level.

4. Wholesale and retail sector

The wholesale and retail sector experienced a higher prevalence of victimisation compared with most other commercial business sectors, with 41% of premises experiencing any CVS crime during the previous 12 months. This higher rate of crime is likely to be due to the nature of businesses in the sector, in particular the accessibility of premises to the public.

4.1 Long-term crime trends

The wholesale and retail sector is the only sector to have been consistently included in the Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS), since 2012. This makes it possible to look at the longer-term trends in this sector.

Figure 5: Crime prevalence trends in the wholesale and retail sector over time

Source: Home Office, 2023 CVS data tables

Following a fall between 2012 and 2014, over the past decade the proportion of wholesale and retail premises that experienced any CVS crime has remained relatively similar, at around 40%.

Customer theft has consistently been the most prevalent offence type faced by the wholesale and retail sector, experienced by 26% of premises in the 2023 CVS. This was similar to the previous survey year. However, over the long term there is some evidence that the sector has seen an upward trend in the proportion of premises experiencing customer theft.

The proportion of wholesale and retail premises that experienced assaults or threats has remained similar over the past decade, at around 10%. The frequency of assaults or threats experienced by victims has also remained similar since the measure was first introduced to the CVS in 2021.

4.2 Retail sector

Aggregating retail with wholesale premises masks different experiences of victimisation between them. For example, the retail sector experiences a higher prevalence of assault and threats, experienced by 12% of retail premises compared with 6% of wholesale premises. This is also true of robbery, experienced by 9% of retail premises compared with 2% of wholesale. Figure 6 shows estimates of the prevalence of crime in the retail sector.

Figure 6: Proportion of business premises in the retail sector which experienced at least one incident of crime in the previous 12 months, by offence type

Notes:

1. The error bars around the estimate for each sector show the 95% confidence interval. For more information on this, see Appendix C: Methodology.

The retail sector spans a wide range of business selling goods to consumers, from small independent and specialist shops through to large supermarkets and department stores. Estimates from the CVS (combined data from 2022 and 2023) show substantial variation in crime prevalence across different types of retail premises. For example, supermarket premises experienced notably higher levels of theft by a customer (76%) and assaults or threats (43%) compared with premises in other retail subsectors.

As might be expected, across the retail sector customer theft was among the most frequently experienced offence types with very high rates of repeat victimisation. Of the premises that were victims of customer theft, 48% reported having experienced it at least once a week, 25% at least once a day, and 18% multiple times each day (based on combined 2022 and 2023 CVS).

Assaults and threats also showed high rates of repeat victimisation in the retail sector. Of the premises that were victims of assault or threats, 22% reported having experienced it at least once a week, and 5% once a day or more frequently (based on combined 2022 and 2023 CVS).

4.3 Police recorded crime trends

Following a review by the UK Statistics Authority in 2014, statistics based on police recorded crime data were found not to meet the requirements to be classed as Accredited official statistics, in part due to inconsistencies in police recording practices and concerns over quality of the underlying data. However, for the offences of shoplifting and robbery of business property it is thought that recording practices have remained broadly consistent over time and that trends in police recorded crime provide a reasonably good measure of the offences that come to the attention of the police.

The police can only record crimes that comes to their attention. Estimates from the 2022 and 2023 CVS showed that while most retail premises who were victims of crime reported some of the crimes they experienced to the police, 39% of victimised retail premises said they had not reported any crimes to the police in the last 12 months.

Whilst the CVS remains the preferred measure of crimes against businesses (as it captures crimes that go unreported), police recorded crime data can be a useful indicator of short-term changes. Due to the inherent time lag of the CVS (with respondents recalling offences experienced over a 12-month period) and the margins of error around estimates (inherent in any sample survey), the CVS can take time to register emerging or short-term trends, and it is helpful to consider both sources together.

For 2 years that that followed the first national lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a substantial fall in police recorded crime, including police recorded shoplifting and robbery of a business property. It is likely that this fall reflects how many retail premises were closed for significant amounts of time, and for those that were open there was substantially reduced customer footfall over this period.

Figure 7: Trends in police recorded shoplifting and robbery of business property incidents, indexed to 2014

Source: Police recorded crime from the Home Office Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)

Notes:

1. Trends were indexed to 2014 to highlight the similarity between the trends in shoplifting and robbery of business property after that point.

2. Robbery of business property is not specific to the wholesale and retail sector.

The latest police recorded crime data for year ending December 2023 has shown rises in both shoplifting and robbery of business property to beyond pre-pandemic levels. While it could be argued that these latest increases are consistent with rises seen in both crime types observed pre-pandemic since year ending March 2014 it is difficult to draw a firm conclusion at this stage.

Another possible interpretation is that much of the increase is due to the relatively rapid rate at which people returned to shopping areas, with footfall returning to, and exceeding pre-pandemic levels. The recent rise is not confined to England and Wales, with similar trends having also been observed in police recorded shoplifting in Scotland and also reported in countries outside of the UK.

For more information on the differences between the CVS and police recorded crime data please see Appendix D: Data sources.

5. Impacts of victimisation

Across all commercial business sectors, premises which were victims of crime during the previous 12 months were asked questions about the impact crime had on their business and their staff.

5.1 Types of impact

The most common types of impact reported by premises were:

• direct financial loss (50%)

• additional staff time to deal with the incident (49%)

• stolen goods or services (41%)

Although counted separately, stolen goods and services could also be considered a direct financial loss to the business.

While the vast majority of victimised premises thought that the crime they experienced had a negative effect on their business, 14% stated it had no impact.

5.2 Financial impacts

All victims of crime were asked about the severity of the financial impact the crime had on their business. Most victims experienced a moderate financial impact (63%), a proportion that was similar to last year’s CVS. Around a third (37%) of victims said it had no financial impact, with business operations resuming as normal. No premises reported crime having a severe financial impact, where they had to consider permanently closing the premises as a result, though of course the survey would not be able identify those premises where severe financial impact had actually resulted in closure.

5.3 Most impacting offence types

When asked which single offence type they considered to have the most negative overall impact on their business, the most common response was customer theft (21%), followed by assaults and threats (16%). This is consistent with these offences being among the most prevalent and most frequent.

6. Crime reporting and police satisfaction

6.1 Reporting crime to the police

Of premises that experienced any CVS crime during the previous 12 months, 55% said that they had reported at least one crime to the police, 34% indicating they report every crime they experience to the police, while 21% said that they only report some.

Of the 45% that didn’t report at least one crime they experienced to the police, the most common reason described, by 54%, was due to the incident being too trivial (very low value) or inappropriate for the police.

The next most common reasons for not reporting related to the anticipated police response: the police wouldn’t be interested (cited by 13%), the police haven’t done anything in the past (12%), and the police could not have done anything (9%).

6.2 Police response to crime

Premises that reported at least one crime they had experienced to the police during the previous 12 months were asked what types of police response they received, across all the incidents reported.

The most common responses were that the police:

• attended the scene of the crime (45% of such premises that had this response to at least one crime they reported)

• provided a crime reference number (29%)

• acknowledged the crime report (28%)

• did nothing or very little (20%)

These premises were also asked about how satisfied they were with the police response after they reported a crime. Satisfaction was mixed and remained similar to last year’s survey, with 41% of premises stating they were dissatisfied compared with 35% being satisfied. This was a lower level of satisfaction than a similar measure asked of all adults, in respect of crimes against individuals or households, from the Crime Survey for England and Wales(CSEW). The year-ending March 2023 CSEW showed that 58% of adults were satisfied with the police response to incidents that they had reported.

Figure 8: Satisfaction with the police response after reporting crime

Source: Home Office, 2023 CVS data tables

The most common reason premises gave for being dissatisfied with the police response was that the ‘police never showed up’ or ‘did nothing about’ reported crimes (63%), the police weren’t interested (41%), or they gave little or no information back on reported crimes (27%).

6.3 Attitudes towards the police

All premises were asked about how satisfied they were with the way the police dealt with crime problems facing businesses in their local area. Over half (54%) of premises were satisfied, compared with 21% being dissatisfied.

Figure 9: General satisfaction with the policing of crimes against businesses in the local area

Source: Home Office, 2023 CVS data tables

For premises that were dissatisfied with the way the police deal with crime problems facing businesses in their local area, the most common reasons why were:

• the police were not seen in the area (24%)

• not enough police / police resources (23%)

• crime levels never seem to change (22%)

• the police take too long to react to incidents (21%)

All premises were also asked how confident they would be that the police would respond effectively if they experienced a crime in the next 12 months. About two-thirds (68%) of premises said they were very or fairly confident that the police would respond effectively, while the other third (32%) said they were not very or at all confident. These patterns were similar to those found in the 2022 CVS.

When asked for one thing which the police could do to help reduce the risk of crime facing their premises, 47% said to have a greater police presence. The second most common answer was to do nothing / carry on as they already are (21%).

7. Crime prevention measures

The Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) asks premises about crime prevention measures that are in place, not including cyber security measures (for more information on these measures see 2024 Cyber Security Breaches Survey). With such a large number of measures used by businesses to reduce the risk of crime, responses are grouped into categories and may not cover all possible measures.

The broad categories of crime prevention measures asked about in the survey were:

• protective door and window measures

• protective measures outside the premises (such as security lighting, CCTV, gates, or fences)

• stock and equipment protection measures

• vehicle protection measures

• entry-control measures

• soft crime prevention measures (such as staff vigilance training or notices to customers and staff on the premises)

• employee protection policies

• membership to crime prevention networks

Across all the above categories, the most commonly mentioned measures related to the monitoring and prevention of entry to the premises when closed. For a complete list of all crime prevention measures asked about in the survey, see Table 7 in 2023 CVS data tables.

Figure 10: The top 10 most common crime prevention measures used by premises

Source: Home Office, 2023 CVS data tables

Crime prevention networks are partnerships that work together to help reduce crime against businesses, for example a local neighbourhood watch group or a business crime reduction partnership. Around one in 10 (11%) of all premises stated that they were a member of a crime prevention network. The most common types of networks which these premises said they were a member of were Farm Watch, Local Neighbourhood Watch, or Business Watch group (44%).

8. Anti-social behaviour

As well as criminal offences, businesses can also be negatively affected by anti-social behaviour (ASB). The 2023 Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) estimated that 8% of premises experienced what they perceived as ASB. This was similar to the level estimated in the 2022 CVS. Of those premises, the most common types of ASB experienced were:

• groups hanging about on the street (26%)

• street drinking / alcohol-related behaviour (23%)

• intimidating, threatening or abusive behaviour (21%)

The most commonly reported impacts from victims of ASB were being:

• a general nuisance (33%)

• upsetting / disruptive for staff (29%)

• off-putting / preventing customers (28%)

9. Nature of crime incidents experienced

9.1 Violence

Premises which experienced at least one incident of robbery (including attempts), or assault/threat during the previous 12 months were asked questions about the nature of the violence they experienced.

Type of violence

The most common types of violence experienced were verbal abuse (73%) and threat or intimidation (68%). Premises also experienced physical attack without injury (21%) and physical attack with injury (8%).

Around one in 10 (11%) of victims of violence experienced at least one incident involving a weapon. The most common types of weapons used were knives (61%) and tools (41%).

Reasons for violence

When asked what tended to be the most common reasons for violence affecting staff at the premises, the top 3 reasons given were:

• encountering someone committing a store theft (19%)

• a customer complaint (17%)

• confronting suspicious behaviour (14%)

Of those that experienced violence, 7% of victims perceived that the violence was motivated by race, ethnicity, or nationality, 4% considered it motivated by religion/faith, sexual orientation, transgender or disability. A hate crime is any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone based on a personal characteristic. Statistics on hate crime against the general population are published separately.

Impacts of violence

Violence can have significant emotional and physical impacts on victims. For premises that experienced violent crime, 6% experienced employees being physically injured, and 7% experienced staff needing time off work.

9.2 Theft

For premises that experienced theft, burglary, or robbery, the 5 most common types of items stolen were:

• food or groceries (20%)

• unpaid services (13%)

• clothing (11%)

• IT or electrical equipment (9%)

• alcohol (8%)

Over two-thirds (69%) of victims of theft said it had a moderate or severe financial impact.

9.3 Fraud

For premises that experienced fraud:

• the most common type experienced was debit/credit card fraud (38%), followed by people impersonating their organisation (21%)

• 55% said they had experienced online fraud

• 63% said the fraud experienced had a moderate or severe financial impact

Appendix A: Glossary

Prevalence rate

The estimated proportion of business premises that were victims of crime (also referred to as the victimisation rate).

Frequency of victimisation

If a premises experienced an incident of crime, they were asked how frequently in the previous 12 months they experienced that type of crime: once only, several times a year, roughly once a month, roughly once a week, roughly once a day, several times a day.

Business size

Defined by the number of staff employed at the premises (as opposed to turnover, for example). Small businesses include those with one to 9 employees, medium-sized businesses with 10 to 49 employees, and large businesses with 50 or more employees.

All CVS crime

The Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) only measures a specific set of crimes against businesses. These are burglary, vandalism, vehicle-related theft, robbery, assaults or threats, theft, and fraud. Computer misuse offences are measured separately and not included in the measure of all CVS crime.

Computer misuse

Online crime covering a range of possible offences carried out over computer networks including:

• hacking or unauthorised access: having a computer, network or server accessed without permission

• computer viruses or malware: having computers infected with files or programmes intended to cause harm

• staff receiving fraudulent emails

In 2022 CVS publication this collection of offences was referred to as “All e-crime”. In the 2023 CVS this has been changed to “All computer misuse” to describe the collection more accurately.

Statistical significance

All survey estimates come with a level of uncertainty, depending on the size of the sample compared with the total population. This uncertainty means that when comparing 2 independent estimates of the same measure, you cannot always say with a certain level of confidence that the estimates are actually different from one another at all.

In the CVS, the difference between 2 estimates is said to be statistically significant at the 5% level if there is less than a one in 20 chance of the observed change being calculated by chance if there is actually no underlying difference.

Appendix B: Data tables

All the data used and presented in this bulletin can be found in the accompanying data tables. The 2023 Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) publication includes a total of 73 tables, covering all the different aspects of the survey. The tables have been organised into 2 separate spreadsheets.

Crime against businesses: findings from the 2023 CVS - prevelence tables. Data on the headline findings from the survey, including the proportion of premises that experienced crime by offence type.

Crime against businesses: findings from the 2023 CVS - additional tables. Further data from the survey, covering a wide variety of topics including crime in retail sector, impact of crime, crime prevention measures, reporting rates to the police, satisfaction with the police, and the nature of some offence types.

Conventions used in figures and tables

Table abbreviations

‘0’ indicates less than 0.5 (this does not apply when figures are presented to one decimal point).

‘[u]’ indicates figures that have been suppressed due low reliability and therefore not sufficient for publication or disclosive control requirements.

‘[s]’ indicates statistically significant change at the 5% level

Unweighted base

All CVS percentages and rates presented in the tables are based on data weighted to compensate for differential non-response. Tables show the unweighted base, which represents the number of business premises interviewed in the specified group.

Percentages

Row or column percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding.

Most CVS tables present cell percentages where the figures refer to the percentage of business premises that have the attribute being discussed and the complementary percentage, to add to 100%, is not shown.

Don’t know/Refused

All CVS analysis excludes ‘don’t know’ or ‘refusals’ unless otherwise specified.

Appendix C: Methodology

For further information on the survey methodology, see the CVS Technical Report. The technical report includes details of the survey and sample design, the fieldwork, weighting, and response rates. Copies of the questionnaire and fieldwork materials sent to premises are also included.

Commercial Victimisation Survey, Technical Report 2023, Ipsos Social Research Institute

CVS background

The Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) was first run as a standalone survey in 1994, followed by a second standalone survey in 2002. The CVS has then run annually from 2012 to the 2023 CVS. A break occurred between 2019 and 2021 due to a re-design of the survey and effects of COVID-19. A standalone CVS was run in 2021 covering only the wholesale and retail sector to provide insights on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sector.

Between 2012 and 2018 the CVS covered a different selection of 3 or 4 business sectors each year. Following consultation with users, a decision was made to expand the coverage of the CVS to include all commercial business sectors in 2022. This was to provide a better understanding of the extent of crime affecting all commercial business premises in England and Wales.

The 2023 CVS is therefore the second year to cover all commercial business sectors. It is not possible to present separate analysis for most individual business sectors. This is because of sample size limitations, meaning the confidence intervals around most individual sector estimates would be too large to draw reliable conclusions.

Figure 11: Sector coverage of the CVS for each year the survey was run

Business coverage

The CVS is designed to measure crime at the individual premises level, rather than the enterprise level. This means, for a national chain, the CVS will measure the level of crime affecting an individual outlet rather than crime affecting the entire business entity. It also means it is possible that multiple premises in the same enterprise could be sampled.

The sample was drawn from the Interdepartmental Business Register (IDBR), a list of UK businesses covering almost all UK economic activity, maintained by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The IDBR is widely used as a sample frame for national surveys of businesses. Companies are included on the IDBR if they are registered with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for VAT purposes, operate a PAYE scheme, or are registered at Companies House. In practice, the VAT registration threshold means that all companies in the UK with a turnover of taxable goods and services over £85,000 per annum are included in the sampling frame. Those with a turnover below this are excluded and, as a result, it is likely that some recently formed companies and small companies will not be covered by the survey.

The CVS sample of premises does not include businesses run from domestic properties or mobile vehicles, although the CVS does cover crime affecting vehicles used by premises as part of their business activities.

Sector coverage

Following the 2019 User Consultation, a decision was made to change the design of the Commercial Victimisation Survey so that it included all business sectors. The original plans were for the 2021 CVS to cover all commercial business sectors for the first time, but these plans were put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2022 CVS was therefore the first iteration of the survey to cover all commercial business sectors.

The business sectors covered by the CVS include: A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,R,S, as defined by the UK Standard Industrial Classification 2007. The proportion of businesses in each sector received from the IDBR, can be found in Figure 12.

Figure 12: Distribution of sectors within the IDBR sample for the 2023 CVS

The following is a summary of the changes to the coverage of the CVS.

• the 2012, 2013, focussed on 4 sectors

• the 2014 CVS focussed on 3 sectors but doubled the sample size for the wholesale and retail sector to better meet user requirements

• the 2015 CVS returned to 4 sectors but the target number of interviews in the information and communication sector was reduced to 200. This was to conduct a feasibility study to survey Head Offices

• The 2016 CVS was reduced once again to 3 sectors to enable more resource for the pilot Head Office survey. Following the pilot in March 2017, a decision was taken not to pursue a full Head Office survey (Commercial Victimisation Survey, Head Office Feasibility Study: Pilot survey report for further details)

• the 2017 CVS returned to 4 sectors as more resources were available following the decision not to pursue the Head Office survey

• the 2018 CVS returned to interviewing 3 sectors but doubled the target interviews for the wholesale and retail sector

• the 2021 CVS was a standalone survey that covered only the wholesale and retail sector

• the 2022 CVS expanded to cover all business sectors but with the same total sample size

Annual decisions on sector coverage were made following discussions with the CVS Expert Reference Group (ERG) and in response to user needs. The ERG comprises: Government analysts and policy officials; Ipsos contract managers; representatives from leading industry organisations; police representatives and academics.

A detailed breakdown of which sectors were covered and their target number of interviews, in each year, can be found in the technical reports for each survey.

When comparing sectors in the CVS bulletin and tables, the following groupings have been made using the UK Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Hierarchy.

Business sector grouping	Sectors included
Primary and utilities	A, B, D, E
Manufacturing	C
Construction	F
Wholesale and retail	G
Transport, accommodation, and food	H, I
Information and financial services	J, K, L
Business services	M, N
Other services	R, S

Fieldwork

The 2023 CVS was conducted as a series of telephone interviews between August and November 2023. Premises were first contacted to identify the appropriate respondent for the interview and arrange a suitable time to carry out the interview. The respondent was generally the person responsible for security and crime-related issues at the premises.

The target number of interviews for the 2023 survey was 2,000 responses. This was achieved with 2,075 interviews being completed (308 of which were in the wholesale and retail sector), as well as data for an additional 9 premises collected via their head office. Previous years of the CVS targeted 4,000 responses, but this was reduced due a fall in the response rate.

For the 2023 survey the screening rate was 19%, compared with 25% in 2022 and 61% in 2018. The screening rate is the proportion of premises that were released for screening that agreed to take part in the main interview.

For the 2023 survey the response rate was 50%, compared with 56% in 2022. The response rate is the proportion of successfully completed interviews (excluding a small number of ineligible cases) out of those premises which were successfully screened and issued to the main stage of interviewing.

Low screening rates are believed to be because of changes to the economy and business operations since the COVID-19 pandemic. More details of the response and screening rates can be found in the technical report.

The broader sector coverage has resulted in a lower number of completed interviews per sector than previous surveys. As such, it is not possible to make direct comparisons between most sectors or conduct robust analysis on most sectors individually. As such, this bulletin mainly focuses on analysis of the overall picture of crime against business affecting all sectors combined.

Questionnaire

For the 2021 questionnaire, a review took place with the CVS Expert Reference Group (ERG). One of the key changes made to the questionnaire, which continued to be part of 2022 and 2023 questionnaires, was replacing the total number of crime incidents questions with the frequency of crime questions. This means the CVS no longer provides a measure of total crime incidents.

This is because estimates provided in previous years of the CVS of the total number of crimes premises experienced over the 12-month reference period, were judged to have spurious accuracy given the challenges for respondents to recall exactly how many incidents the business had experienced. The frequency questions (how often a business premise experienced victimisation) were judged to provide a more discriminating measure of the impact of crime against businesses.

Questions introduced in the 2021 CVS on the impact of COVID-19 were not included future questionnaires.

Comparisons with other sources of crime data

While the CVS is intended to complement existing sources of information on crime, such as the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), consideration of the methodology and coverage of the surveys means that it is not possible to combine the results from the 2 to obtain a ‘total’ count of crime. Differences in definitions and methodology between the 2 surveys mean figures are not directly comparable.

Statistical methodology

Weighting

The CVS estimates are based on a representative sample of businesses in England and Wales each year. The data was weighted to take account of both non-response and the stratified sampling design. Non-response is a result of either being unable to identify contact details for sampled business premises or from contacted premises being unwilling to take part in the survey.

For a detailed description of the weighting methodology, please see the Technical Report.

The approximate total number of business premises that the 2023 CVS sample was designed to represent, and which the weights for each respondent sum to, was 1,577,044.

Confidence intervals

Any sample survey may produce estimates that differ from the figures that would have been obtained if the whole population had been interviewed. To analyse the responses to a sample survey such as the CVS, it is important to account for the level of uncertainty around estimates based on a survey sample. This is done by calculating the range of values around an estimate, known as the confidence interval (or margin of error) of the estimate. Standard 95% confidence intervals were estimated using the survey data. In practice this means that if many different samples of business premises were drawn, the true population value would fall within this interval 95% of the time.

Significance testing

To compare 2 independent estimates of the same measure (for example, between different groups or years), the standard errors or confidence intervals around the 2 estimates are compared using a z-test. Where confidence intervals around 2 estimates of the same measure do not overlap, the difference between the values is said to be statistically significant. It is important to note that the opposite is not always true, that is, overlapping confidence intervals do not always indicate a lack of statistical significance.

Survey burden

Producers of official statistics are required to be compliant with Value 5.5, on efficiency and proportionality, of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics which states:

“Statistics producers should be transparent in their approach to monitoring and reducing the burden on those providing their information, and on those involved in collecting, recording and supplying data. The burden imposed should be proportionate to the benefits arising from the use of the statistics.”

In order to comply with the Code, the Home Office is required to report the estimated costs to businesses responding to statistical surveys such as the CVS, using a compliance cost model that is used consistently by government departments.

Appendix D: Data sources

Commercial Victimisation Survey

The Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) includes crimes that are not reported to, or recorded by the police, but is limited to crimes against businesses included in the sample and does not cover all offence types.

The CVS is unaffected by changes in levels of reporting to the police or police recording practices. The methodology and the offence types included have remained comparable since the CVS began running annually from 2012.

Police recorded crime

Police recorded crime has wider offence coverage and business coverage than the CVS. The time lag between occurrence of crime and reporting results tends to be short, providing an indication of emerging trends.

Police recorded crime excludes offences that are not reported to, or not recorded by, the police. Trends can be influenced by changes in recording practices, or police activity and business reporting of crime, making it difficult to make long-term comparisons. There have also been also concerns about the quality of recording and that crime is not recorded consistently across police forces or over time.

The CVS measure of customer theft covers a broader range of offences than just shoplifting. However, when focussing on only the wholesale and retail sector, the CVS measure of customer theft is broadly equivalent to shoplifting in police recorded crime data.

Further information

Previous releases

Previous editions of Commercial Victimisation Survey publications are available on the Crimes against business statistics page on GOV.UK.

Feedback and enquiries

Home Office statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly at CrimeandPoliceStats@homeoffice.gov.uk with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

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Home Office Responsible Statistician:

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